Animus Effluo
by Deceptive Sanity
Summary: She doesn't trust him anymore, not after what he's done. He's left alone in the dark until she pays him an unexpected visit... with a baby. DHr
1. Lost Memories

**Disclaimer: **I own a fuzzy cow, and Draco Molefoy… the mole I made for my chemistry class. MUAHAHAHAHAH. And, I think all the characters I'm using belongs to a lady named Rolling, I can never remember.

**Rating:** PG-13 only because I want to be safe and not have parents rip me apart after their children read this and die a terrible death.

**Author:** You can call me Gondor… I'm away! Like a birdie!

**Title:** Animus Effluo because it sounds cool, and it's cool, like me. cough

**Dedicated to: **The people in Asia who were affected by the earthquake (8,000 people have been killed thus far)… and my English teacher, who has a plot against me. glances around nervously

And this is my first time at fan fiction, so please think of some constructive criticism that you can send me! Thanks!

She glares at him through her teary eyelashes. Although the tears are long gone from her cheeks, he can see the marks they left behind when they dried.

It was too much. She thought that they would be able to put aside their differences and make their relationship work… but it was all for naught.

He hesitantly takes a step towards her, waiting for her consent. Her mouth pinches into a thin line. Taking another step, he reaches out a hand and caresses her shoulder. His eyes darken, and a storm begins to arise when she flinches at his touch.

She knows he's hurt by her reaction, but she doesn't care. She doesn't care anymore about matters pertaining to him.

Yet she still does. No matter how much she tries to stop… tries to deny it…

He clears his throat. "Hermione, I…"

She can't hold in her tears any longer. After all she's seen, she breaks down as soon as he starts to talk.

"Not this time… not again…" And without a last glance back, she pushes hurriedly against him and runs out of the room.

It was during sixth year when they had started this romance. On his part, it had begun as a mere fantasy, to see how far he would be able to drag her along. He bargained too much, and found himself falling head over heels for her.

At first he didn't understand what was so intriguing about her. She wasn't the prettiest girl he had dated, nor did she have as much experience as he did in the art of kissing.

But as he spent more and more time with her, walking in the grounds, studying together, he understood.

It was the simple trust she had in him, the faith. All the other girls he had dated were always somewhat nervous whenever they were around him. They couldn't trust themselves to believe that he would be faithful to them, what with half the school pining away for him. There was also the fact that she always believed he would make the right decision. She never gave up hope for him.

For almost two years they had kept silent about the whole ordeal. The only people who knew were her two best friends and a couple of his own friends. Had anyone else known, their relationship would have been blown out of proportion.

Although her friends weren't happy with the development at first -- neither were his – they slowly adjusted for the new man in her life. They were a bit disappointed that she hadn't picked one of their own, a Gryffindor, or even a Ravenclaw to go out with. After the initial shock had worn off, her friends were a lot more wary of him than before. They thought that he was using her, and tried to dissuade her from the relationship.

But by that time, they had already been going out for at least three months, and had been meeting in secret. They usually talked in whispers unless they were sure that there was no way someone could eavesdrop. He never minded.

During seventh year, it became easier to meet her, as they were both Head Girl and Head Boy. Their relationship flourished, and her friends knew it was a lost cause.

He sighes as he placed the cup of pumpkin juice on the table and shifts his position to be more comfortable.

It was the graduation ball, the day before all the seventh years left for the real world, and so far nothing eventful had happened.

Sure, Neville Longbottom tripped over his date Padma Patil and went headfirst into the snacks, and Professor Vector drank a little too much and started to sing about a mandrake and a thestral until he was escorted out.

Frustrated by the lack of events, he decides to take a breather and walks out onto the grounds. As the cool breeze ruffles through his hair, he starts to think of her once again. Strange, he hadn't seen her at the ball since she walked out well over forty-five minutes ago.

Suddenly he hears a noise coming from somewhere to his right; he walks over, behind a flower bush.

She's crying, the trees freely rolling down her face, and muttering about something… her hair's a mess, and her clothes are all rumpled up. He wonders what happened to her.

"Hermione…" He says cautiously, caressing her hand. She looks up and abruptly pulls her hand out of his grasp as soon as she realizes who it is. He doesn't expect any reaction out of her; she's usually quiet when she's sad.

"No… you… you… How could you?" She screams at him, and starts pounding on his chest with her two small fists.

Bewildered, he looks down at her and at her tear-stricken face. "What did I do?" He whispers into her hair as his arms snake around her frame.

Without warning she pushes against him, and looks into his face. He stares back at her, losing himself in the depths of her eyes….

The contact is broken as she turns and runs across the grounds of Hogwarts, never even stopping once to look back. For a moment he is surprised at her sudden reaction, but he soon runs after her, catching up on the ground he lost.

Already the knight bus has rolled up outside Hogwarts' outer gates, and she hurriedly runs in. He reaches the bus as soon as the doors close. He feels her eyes on him and he turns toward her, towards the window that separates them.

The palm of her hand is flat against the window as she looks at him with her eyes wide. He looks down at her palm and puts his own hand against the window so that they would have been touching had there not been glass between them.

As the bus starts to move, she says something. He can't hear her, but he looks at the movement of her lips.

"I trusted you, Draco."

With a final glance from Hermione, the knight bus disappears from sight with a small crack.

It had been less than a year since he last saw her at Hogwarts, and many things had changed during that time. His father had been sent to Azkaban for the second time with a life sentence for his role in the conspiracy against Harry Potter.

Fresh out of Hogwarts, the young Draco Malfoy had learned to juggle the financial aspect and all the duties that went into becoming the head of a pureblood family. He couldn't say that he didn't particularly enjoy it, because he did. But there was always the lingering feeling that something was missing, and had been missing for a long time. Of course, he thought he knew what it was, but it was something that could not be helped or fixed through his own powers.

Striding through the halls of Malfoy Manor, Draco stopped in front of his mother's suite. She had taken ill soon after hearing about his father's imprisonment.

Draco wouldn't say that he had a normal childhood, because he didn't. His earlier years had been filled with horror and grief. There were always those times of happiness, but that had been before his father divulged into the dark arts.

The relationship between his parents had never been very typical either. Narcissa Black had been a Ravenclaw back in her school years until she switched to Slytherin a few years into her education. Draco never fully understood why, and he wasn't sure whether his mother wanted to tell him about it either. Nevertheless, she met Lucius Malfoy, and they married a couple years later in a grand ceremony.

Unlike what most other people said, his parents loved each other. They never did anything in public, but in the privacy of their home, Draco would often find his parents staring into each other's eyes. These moments dwindled when Lucius became a death eater. Their love wasn't as strong as before, and his mother would often walk around the house as if in a stupor whenever he went off to the death eater meetings.

Now his father was in prison and his mother stayed in her room. He entered his mother's drawing room after knocking softly on the oak doors leading in.

"Morning, mother. Wonderful day today." Draco said gaily as he opened the curtains that covered the windows, letting the warmth of the sun pierce into the room. Even with the sudden sunlight, Mrs. Malfoy didn't flinch, or show awareness that someone else was in the room with her.

Draco went over to his mother and kneeled by the chair she was sitting in. "Mother… you can't do this anymore. It's not… healthy." He finished lamely, looking up into his mother's face. Over the years, her flawless face had started to show signs of aging, and several wrinkles were already apparent.

Draco stayed next to Narcissa, keeping her company when a house elf walked nervously into the room.

"Mr. M- Malfoy, sir. I'm v-very s-sorry to bother you, but… but t-there's something you really o-ought to see." The rather lanky house elf stammered out.

He turned toward his mother. "I'll be right back."

As he followed Mindy the house elf throughout the house and towards the kitchens, Draco was disconcerted. Today was a Saturday, he usually did not work on weekends, and he did not keep company over often unless necessary.

When the smell of food wafted up into his nose, Draco could not keep silent any longer. "Why are we going into the kitchen, Mindy?" They stepped into the kitchen.

"Over there, s-sir." Mindy pointed over to a countertop where a basket was set; something was moving.

Draco cautiously went over to the basket and peeked inside. What was in there surprised him.

"Bloody hell…" He looked inside again just to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating.

But there it was -- a baby. The baby looked up at him and gave a scrutinizing look as if to make sure he was a decent person or not. Draco must have passed, because the baby started to smile. It had gray eyes, _his_ eyes.

Instantly, Draco realized who the mother was, and where the baby had come from.

Hopefully I'll be able to continue as that is my plan so far.

Please review, and give constructive criticism as to how I can improve. Thank you!

You can reach me at frozeninside (at) gmail. com… call me fruit cake…


	2. Forgetting

I have to say something: The first chapter was MEANT to switch tenses back and forth! Present, to past, to present… sorry if it confused you, but there were little "break marks" to show you where a new scene started and stuff… so…

**Title: Animus Effluo**

_**Chapter 2**_

Hermione dashed around the house picking up the loose odds and ends while putting her hair up in a ponytail.

Suddenly, she stopped and mentally smacked herself. "Honestly…" She took out her wand and waved everything back into its places. The books were shelved neatly into the bookcases, the dishes safely in their respective places, and the pillows back on the couches.

Looking at her watch, she realized that she should have left well over half an hour ago. "Alexandria Kiora Granger! We're late! Hurry up and come down!"

A small head with chestnut brown hair in a ponytail looked down from above the staircase. "Coming!" The voice squeaked out as the three-year-old bounded down the stairs.

Hermione grabbed hold of her daughter's hand quickly and threw blue powder into the fire grate. "Nelbittle Nursery." Speaking clearly, she took her toddler into her arms and stepped into the now-blue fire.

They closed their eyes and felt themselves moving from grate to grate. When they finally stopped, they landed with a not-so-graceful "thump". Composing herself, Hermione took Alex's hand and walked into the nursery part of the building.

"Ah! Ms. Granger, a pleasure to meet you." A batty old lady dropped the finger paint she was holding to hustle hurriedly over to them. Her eyes lingered downwards. "And Alexandria." Madame Nelbittle looked over Alex - her face was contorted into confusion, scrutinizing her.

Hermione became nervous and felt her hands becoming clammy.

Madame Nelbittle tore her eyes away from Alex to address Hermione. "Well then, I suppose you'll pick her up promptly at three? We try to keep all the standards up, teaching the students how to be prompt. Good manners."

Reassuring herself that it was wise to send Alex to a wizarding preschool, Hermione apparated to St. Mungo's, where she was a healer. Walking into her office, she was pleasantly surprised to find Ginny sitting behind her desk.

"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed as she saw her looking through her files. Ginny's eyes darted upward and she gave a sheepish grin.

"Hey, Hermione." Placing the files back in their places hastily, she walked over to Hermione. In her arms she held her second child, Lena Potter. "Where's Alex?"

Heaving a tired sigh, she sat down on one of the couches in her office. "She's at her new school." Ginny sat down next to her.

"Well, good for you! Mind you, she _was_ a bit… er… more forceful than those other children at the Muggle school. I think that lady got tired of trying to figure out how those carrot sticks turned into cookies." Shifting Lena's weight, Ginny turned her eyes onto the baby.

Hermione placed her head in her hands. "I don't know… I just have this feeling. What if she meets… _you know_."

She met Ginny's eyes. Ginny was the only one who knew the true parentage of Alex. Hermione couldn't trust herself to tell Harry, or even Ron. Although they had both married and settled down, she doubted that they would accept her child with wide, open arms. They would know that she had lied to them.

Ginny started out hesitatingly. "Hermione, although… although there _is_ a pretty good chance that she will meet her twin, since you're sending her to the best magical preschool in Britain, does it honestly look like they'll find out? Remember that they're fraternal twins, not identical. The could look very different from each other."

Noticing Hermione slightly relax, she continued on. "But don't you think he has a right to know?" This caused an emotion of fury to course through Hermione's veins.

She lashed out. "He doesn't have to know… he'll never know because we won't tell him." Hermione gave Ginny a piercing look. "He'll never find out."

)o(

Thoroughly drained from the day's work, Hermione timidly walked over to the entrance of the nursery. Seeing the other mothers and fathers picking up their children, she visibly relaxed and searched the building, scanning through the sea of children swarming to their parents.

She felt someone pulling on the bottom of her work clothes and looked down.

"Alex!" Hermione yelled out and picked up her daughter to give her a big hug.

Alexandria snuggled into her mother, but then started squirming when she wouldn't let go. Hermione reluctantly let her daughter down and beamed down upon her.

She rushed over to the counter to sign her daughter out for the day. "So how was your first day like?" Hermione finished writing her last name on the paper and put down the pen.

Alex frowned for a fleeting moment before forcing a grin upon her face. "Oh, you know, Mom… absolutely fab- fabu… wonderful."

Hermione noticed that something was wrong with her child and stopped walking out of the nursery momentarily. Moving out of the way, she kneeled down and grabbed both her daughter's shoulders.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" As Hermione brushed away a lock of her daughter's silky hair, a characteristic she gained from her father, Alex's lower lip started to tremble.

"Oh, mommy. No one likes me at all! That lady, Madame Nel, got mad at me and this other kid because we already knew how to read. It was awful! Everyone else got to play fun games, but Madame Mel told me and the other kid, Decus, I think his name is, read _Witch Weekly_! " Alex shrieked out at the end, causing other parents to glare forcefully at the pair.

As Alex babbled on, Hermione frowned. Maybe it would have been better if her daughter had gone to a Muggle school instead. That Decus kid must have come from a pureblood family if he was already smart enough to read. She knew enough Latin to know Decus meant 'honor and dignity'; definitely from a pureblood family.

"…but Decus isn't that bad. I told him I didn't have a daddy, although I did have two uncles and an aunt, and he told me he didn't have a mommy, so I…." She glanced suspiciously down at her daughter. It would have been pure torture to know that Alex had somehow managed to befriend the one person Hermione wasn't even sure attended this nursery.

Trying to get her daughter to calm down, Hermione ushered Alex into the floo room. She managed to hold a pinch of floo powder and moved towards the nearest fire grate when a man in billowing black robes exited.

He gracefully exited the room without a merest glance at the two. Raising her eyebrow at the rudeness of the stranger, Hermione quickly motioned to put the powder in the grate when out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man enter again with a little boy his side.

The little boy caught site of the pair and smirked. Hermione's heart stilled at the facial expression. It couldn't be…

"Alex!" The little boy with dark blond hair pulled loose of his father's grasp before running towards her daughter.

Her daughter pulled on her hand until Hermione's fingers loosened. "Decus!" She ran to greet him. Cursing to herself, she hurriedly tried to catch up with her animated child, while at the same time trying to suppress the sinking feeling in her stomach. Somehow, she didn't think this was going to turn out very well.

"Alex!" Hermione repeated the name, trying to catch hold of her daughter's attention. "We were supposed to be at Aunt Ginny's ten minutes ago. We're late. Why don't you talk to your friend some other…" Her breath hitched in her throat as she stared back at the blue eyes peering at her curiously from the face of the man wearing the dark cloak.

The man took a step towards her. "Hermione?" He breathed out. Hermione flinched and would have taken a step back if she wouldn't have run over the two children conversing vivaciously.

Lowering the hood of his cloak, Hermione could see his brown scruffy hair emerging from the darkness. "Blaise." She muttered before she turned her head. She had no need to be nervous now, as she knew Decus wasn't her child.

Putting a smile on her face, she hugged Blaise warmly. "I never knew you had a child, Blaise! In fact, I didn't even know you were married." Averting her gaze to the children, she continued, "They seem to be having a good time."

Blaise chuckled as they ended their embrace. "Yes, Hermione. I am married." He grinned again with a twinkle in his eyes. "With Lavender, can you believe it?" He paused here. "Despite the fact that you were at my wedding, of course."

Hermione blushed. "Sorry… but you two have been married for less than a year!" She looked suspiciously at him.

"Oh no. Decus isn't mine. He's Draco's." At these words, Hermione froze.

"Draco's?" She choked out. So there _was_ a reason why Decus looked so familiar, and who else would name their child 'honor'?

He looked worriedly at her as she clutched her chest and averted her eyes from his gaze. "Hermione, is something wrong?"

She took a step back and tried to control her breathing. Wiping sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand, "No. Nothing's wrong." She forced a smile on her face and called to Alex.

"Well, it was nice meeting you again, Blaise, but I have to go now. Come on Alex."

)o(

Hermione arrived at the Burrow a wreck. Leaving Alex to find Tristan Potter and Broderick Weasley by herself, she went into the kitchen a harrowed woman, and was soon engulfed by the smell of spices… and Ginny.

Seeing the look on Hermione's face, Ginny knew whatever was bothering her friend was not good.

Ginny placed a warm cup of tea in her hands and sat her down at the table. "What happened?" She asked, peering under the mess of Hermione's hair that had come undone from her ponytail.

Hermione tried to control herself, but gave in to the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. She tried to blink away the tears that fell freely down her face, but failed miserably to the emotions swirling around inside of her and broke down. "I saw him." She finally choked out after she controlled her tears.

Ginny looked confused. She started out hesitatingly. "You mean… Draco?" This caused Hermione to heave tears in anguish.

"No. Alex's brother." She wiped a tear with the sleeve of her work robes and stared down at her hands. "I wanted to keep him, you know, Ginny. I didn't want to.. to give him away to _him,_" Hermione couldn't say his name – it tasted foul in her mouth. "but I had no choice. I was weak. I couldn't support myself, and I could barely support one child let alone two."

Sighing, she cradled her face in her hands. "But I also don't think it's a wise idea to keep the two apart."

Ginny tried to console her friend as soothingly as she possibly could. Rubbing Hermione's back, started. "Hermione, I don't think you're giving him a chance. He has a right to know, and you don't even know for sure if he was talking about you."

Hermione glared at Ginny, her remorse turning quickly to rising rage at her friend. "A picture is worth a thousand words, Ginny." She bitterly spat out. "And I was at the actual event."

O

Eh… I think this isa good place to stop. I hope this was good enough for you guys. _Giggles_ I was going to continue writing on this chapter, but it was a little tiring, honestly. I want to get to the good stuff. Hehe.

If you liked this story, then I think you might like my other story – Fading to Insanity. It's kind of… spooky (I guess that's the word… not really) I guess. It's not a particularly normal story.

So, please review! I'll give you a Draco Malfoy shaped candy bar. You can bite off the head if you hate him, or lick it if you love him. ;)


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